Separator



NITE TATES PATENT OFFICE.

J OH I). NICHOLS, OF MILIVAUKEE, \VISOONSIN.

SEPARATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. {$295,168, dated December 25, 1888. Application filed August 27, 1888. Serial No. 2833870. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J OHN B. NICHOLS, of Milwaukee, in the county of hjlilwaukee, and in the State of \Visconsin, have invented oer tain new and useful Improvements in Separators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to separators designed for use in connection with ore, cement, phosphates, &c.; and it consists in certain peculiarities of construction, as will be fully set forth hereinafter, and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side eleva tion of the operative portion of my device, partly in section. Fig. 2 is a detail view of the adjustable damper. Fig. 3 is a detail View of the cap or upper part of the distributer, and Fig. 4 represents a modified construction of the distributer.

My device, as shown, is adapted for use between the :[ioors of a manufactory, though of course its location is immaterial, and its supporting-trame would necessarily vary with each change of locationv I have not deemed it requisite to show such.

A. is the casing of my separator, 'terminating in the exterior funnel, A, and spout A and B is the inner funnel, terminating in a spout, 13, passing through the outer funnel,

A, said funnel 13 having a vertical upper extension, B and the two funnels B and A, (which are preferably made of boilcr-plate,) having suitable braces, a a, connecting them and holding them rigidly at the required dis tance apart, as shown.

C is an annular hood (preferably made, also, of boiler-plate) open at the bottom, but with closed walls and top, which is supported within the casing A, and at a suitable distance below the top plate, by braces l) b, and connected to the circular extension B of the funnel B by braces c c, the said extension B being located about midway between the vertical walls of the annular hood C, and extending up to about the same distance below the top of said hood as the space between said part B and said vertical walls.

The casing A is. entirely closed at top, except at the eenter, where it is open and receives a feed-hopper, D, made, preferably,

with an upper horizontal flange, (Z, resting 011 said casing-top and bolted thereto, as shown.

E is the operating-shaft, supported vertically by a suitable bracket, F, secured to and rising from the top of the casing, said shaft passing through boxes f f on the crossarms of said bracket, and having collars e 61 above and below said boxes, secured to the shaft by set-screws, as shown, or otherwise, and also carrying a pulley, E, for a belt running from the shafting (not shown) which supplies the power.

Fig. 3 shows the distributer-cap,whieh consists, primarily, of a ring, G, a hub, g, and connecting-plates G G G G, having upwardextendin wings g, said plates and their wings having a spiral arrangement about the said hub g, which latter receives the shaft E, to which it is properly secured, as by set-screw 9 The plates are perforated for the reception of bolts, by which they are bolted to the spiral distributer blades H II H H, which blades are secured to the shaft E in any ordinary manner. The ring Gr is provided with a series of vertical holes, g 9 and on top of this ring there rests the correspomlinglyperforated flanged base of a hood, H, and above this, at intervals, the perforated flanged bases of a series of uprights, I I, the whole being secured together by screw-bolts h h passing through the described perforations in the parts I, H, and G, the upper part of the hood H having a suitable opening for the reception of the feedhopper D, as shown. The

series of uprights I I are united together and strengthened by a circular band, i, to which they are bolted, and these uprights carry the arms jj of the fanblades J .I, whose projection is substantially the same distance from the shaft E as the outer vertical wall of the described hood 0. These fan-blades revolve in the space between the top plate and the top of the annular hood.

I will next describe the adjustable damper shown in detail in Fig. 2. This consists of two annular plates, one lying upon the other, and provided with a series of perforations identical in size and location. The lower plate, K, is provided with lugs 71; 7t at intervals, by means of which it is bolted to the outer wall of the hood C and the upper part of the extension B and is thereby kept stationary.

The upper plate, L, rests on this plate and is movable, there being projections or lugs m m at intervals on the said parts B and 0 above said plate L, to keep it snugly in place on plate K when it is being turned, so that the holes M in the lower plate may be moved to register with holes 1 in the upper plate, or away from each other, as desired, in regulating the size of the openings, or closing them off altogether, which is done by turning the shaft N by the hand-wheel 'n, the said shaft terminating in a barrel, 0, around which is a cord or chain, 0, secured to said barrel and to said upper plate, the shaft N passing through suitable hearings in the outer wall of the "hood C and the casing A, as shown.

For convenience of access to the operative parts of my device, I make the top of the casing A separate from the sides thereof and secure said top, by means of screw-bolts p p, to an angle-plate, I, the vertical flange of which is bolted to the upper part of the vertical wall of said casing A on the inside, the said set-bolts passing also through the horizontal flanges of the bracket F, which, as stated, is secured to said casing-top, and I have only to loosen the set-screws which secure the upper collar, 2, and pulley E to the shaft E, and to remove the screw-bolts p p, to enable the said bracket F and top of the casing A and feedhopper D to be lifted up free from the said casing and shaft and expose the fan (which would settle down upon the hood C) and the other parts for inspection and repair.

The operation of my device is as follows: The material to be treated in its original statefine and coarse lumps, all togetheris fed into the hopper D, and the shaft E being in a state of revolution the material falls upon the cap of the distributer, being divided and deflected by the wings g of the several plates G G2 G G onto the upper portions of the several spiral blades H H II 11', and rapidly whirled around thereon and thereunder and by the centrifugal force made to traverse the surface of the several blades of the spiral distributer, thereby, by agitation,

concussion, and attrition, accomplishing a par tial separation of the fine from the coarse material and throwing it off into the spacebetween the edges of said blades and the inner wall of the hood 0, and against the latter, the coarser particles being conveyed in to the funnel B and out through spout B into any suitable receptacle, while the finer or lighter particles are drawn up by the suction created by the fan-blades J, over the hood 0, and into the passage between the outer vertical wall of said hood and the casin g A, dropping by gravity into the funnel A, and out through spout A into proper receptacles. To guard against this fine material being carried out with a rush of air is the chief purpose of my hood 0 and the extension-wall B for, as the fan continues to revolve, the air that was carried along into the described passage bet-ween the outer wall of O and the casin g A is drawn back between said outer wall of O and the wall B up through the perforations in the plates K L to the space beneath the top of the hood 0, and down again between the wall B and the inner wall of the hood 0, and up between the said wall and the distributer, following the course of the arrows shown in Fig. 1, while the fine material, freed from the air in this manner, falls down and out, as already described. In this way it is not necessary to depend on an outside supply of air further than that which naturally enters the casing A and funnel B, and the same air is used over and over again. I

By the use of the spiral distributer the greatest possible amount of surface for agitation and separation of the material is obtained, and consequently the separation is made more thorough than would be otherwise the case. The distributer may be a simple spiral with plain surfaces, as shown in Fig. l; or, as shown in Fig. 4:, sections or portions of each spiral blade may be removed to increase the percussive effect by the violent dropping from one blade to that below of the material at such points; or the said blades maybe roughened, corrugated, or perforated to increase this effect and suit the particular material being operated upon at any time, and as different material requires a stronger or lighter draft the described damper enables this to be regulated to a nicety according to the requirements of the particular material being treated, and if the fine or light material is to be conveyed to a distant point the damper may be entirely closed, so that the force of the air may be utilized at the discharge-spout A to aid in accomplishing this result.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a separator, the combination, with a casing terminating in a funnel and spout for the fine or light material, another funnel for the heavy material supported within the firstnamed funnel and having a spout passing therethrough, a feed-hopper, and a vertical revolving shaft carrying a spiral-bladed distributer at its lower end suspended within the inner funnel and free from support at its lower end, substantially as set forth.

2. In a separator, the combination, with a casin terminating in a funnel and spout for the fine or light material, another funnel for the heavy material supported within the first-named funnel and having a spout pass ing therethrough, a feed-hopper, a vertical revolving shaft carrying a spiral-bladed distributer at its lower end suspended within the inner funnel and free from support at its lower end, and a horizontally-arranged fan secured to the distributer, substantially as set forth. I

3. In a separator, the combination, with a casing having a closed top plate, and terminating in a funnel and spout, for the fine or light material, another funnel for the heavy material, supported within the first-named funnel, and having a spout passing therethrough and a vertical circular upward extension, an annular hood, consisting of a double wall, open bottom, and closed top, located in the upper part of the casing at some distance below the closed top plate thereof and around the upper extension of the inner funnel, so as to leave an air-passage on each side and above said inner extension and above said annular hood and between its outer vertical wall and the vertical wall of the casing, a feed-hopper depending from the closed top of the casing, a vertical revolving shaft passing through said feed-hopper and carrying a spiral bladed distributer, suspended from its free lower end and extending through the central opening of the annular hood adjacent to its inner vertical wall, and a horizontally-arranged fan secured to the dis tributer and having blades sweeping over the annular hood, substantially as set forth.

' 4. In a separator, the combination, with a casing terminating in a funnel and spout, another funnel supported within the first-named funnel, and having a spout passing therethrough and a'vertical circular upward extension, an annular double-walled hood with closed top and open bottom, supported within the casing and around the upper extension of the inner funnel, so as to leave air-passages on each side and above said extension and on each side and above said annular hood, an adjustable damper consisting of annular perforated plates resting one on the other be tween the upper part of 'the said extension and the outer vertical wall of the said annular hood, a feedhopper depending from the closed top of the casing, a vertical revolving shaft passing through said hopper and carry- 40 ing a spiral-bladed distributer beneath said hopper, a hood rising from the top of the distributer and perforated for the reception of the feed-hopper, and uprights also rising from the top of the distributor and carrying horizontallyarranged fan blades adapted to sweep over the annular hood, substantially as set forth.

5. In a separator the combination, with a casing having a closed top plate and termi- 5o nating in a funnel and spout, and another funnel supported within the first-named funnel, and having a spout passing therethrough and a vertical circular upward extension, of an annular double-walled hood with closed top and open bottom, the outer and inner walls of said hood being of the same height or depth, supported within the casing and around the upper extension of the inner funnel at some distance below the closed top of the outer casing, a vertical suspended shaft carrying a distributer at its free lower end projecting through the central opening of the annular hood into the inner funnel, and a fan secured to said distributer and having blades sweeping over the said annular hood, sub stantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of \Vis- 7o cousin, in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN B. NICHOLS.

itnesses:

H. G. UNDERwooo, lVILLIAM KLUG. 

